SHEEP-HUNTING 173 



patible with a decent and honourable existence. 

 Under these circumstances I have no ground of 

 complaint, seeing that I have but little faith in 

 the novelist's theory of the indestructibility of a 

 gentlemanlike appearance, but believe greatly in 

 the saving qualities of a shirt collar ; and hold that 

 without that mystic ring, if you take a lot of men 

 from different classes, mix them up, dress them 

 in the same rough clothes, and see that they are 

 all equally unkempt, unshaven, and unclean, you 

 will find it very hard to separate them correctly 

 again. 



For the next three days we were busily engaged, 

 in " paying visits " during the first two, and in 

 recuperating our shattered constitutions on the 

 third. Then Christmas was close at hand, and 

 we concluded to celebrate that festival in the 

 fort, so that it was not until ten days or a fortnight 

 after our arrival that we sallied out on a hunting 

 expedition into the Black Hills. Game proved 

 tolerably abundant, but the weather was awfully 

 cold, too cold for pleasure. If I may here be 

 allowed to offer one word of advice to hunters, I 

 would say. Don't go out on the plains in the 

 northern and middle territories and states in the 

 depth of winter ; the game is not worth the 



